John Lee has been named Hong Kong’s new leader, after a closed voting process in which he was the sole candidate.
His appointment is being widely seen as a move by the Chinese government to tighten its grip on the city.
Known as a staunch Beijing supporter, Mr. Lee oversaw the sometimes violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protestors in 2019.
Mr. Lee replaces outgoing chief executive Carrie Lam, who had served since 2017.
Hong Kong’s leaders are selected by a closed-circle committee of around 1,500 members, who are nearly all pro-Beijing loyalists – although this time there was only one contender for them to elect.
Mr. Lee, who was the former Chief Secretary and the city’s second-highest ranking official, was always tipped to be the favored replacement for Ms. Lam who earlier announced that she would not seek a second term in office.
But although Mr. Lee has Beijing’s backing, he is deeply unpopular for his role in overseeing the crackdown on protestors during demonstrations over a controversial extradition bill in 2019.
Mr. Lee continued to back the bill despite the unrest, and came under intense criticism for sanctioning the police’s use of water cannons, rubber bullets, tear gas, and occasionally live ammunition to disperse protestors.
In 2020, he also backed the imposition of a controversial national security law that criminalized most forms of political protest and dissent and reduced the city’s autonomy.
Mr. Lee maintained that the law would help restore “stability from chaos”.
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